India's explosive batter Abhishek Sharma stormed into the record books as he became the fastest batter to notch up 1,000 runs in T20Is. Abhishek achieved this mega feat during the fifth T20I against Australia at the Gabba. Not only did he claim the world record for the fastest to achieve this for a single country in terms of balls faced, but he also became the fastest Indian to reach the mark based on matches played. The star southpaw took just 528 balls to cross the four-figure mark.
Abhishek Sharma becomes fastest to score 1000 T20I runs
This performance saw the left-handed batter shatter the previous global record of 569 balls, which was held by Australia's Tim David. David had set his record during an aggressive knock of 74 off 38 balls in Hobart on November 2nd. For comparison, India's current T20I captain, Suryakumar Yadav, previously held second place, having reached the 1,000-run mark in 573 balls, with New Zealand's Finn Allen following in third at 611 balls. While David now stands 6th overall in terms of total balls faced to reach 1,000 T20I runs (614 balls), that total includes matches played for both Singapore and Australia, making Sharma's country-specific record particularly notable.
In addition to the world record for balls faced, Abhishek also secured a national milestone. He became the fastest Indian to reach the 1,000-run milestone in T20Is in terms of matches played. Although he narrowly missed out on breaking a record held by Virat Kohli, who reached the mark in 27 innings from 29 matches, Sharma's achievement in 28 innings was fast enough to claim the Indian record for the fewest matches required.
Fewest innings to 1000 T20I runs (India):
27 Virat Kohli
28 Abhishek Sharma
29 KL Rahul
31 Suryakumar Yadav
40 Rohit Sharma
While Abhishek now holds the world record for the fastest 1,000 T20I runs by balls faced for a single country, the overall record for achieving the milestone in the fewest matches played is currently held jointly by England's Dawid Malan and Czech Republic's Sabawoon Davizi. Both of these players reached the four-digit mark in just their 24th T20I match.
Talking about the match, India were placed at 52/0 when the rain gods hindered play.
India (Playing XI):
Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma(w), Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah
Australia (Playing XI):
Mitchell Marsh(c), Matthew Short, Josh Inglis(w), Tim David, Josh Philippe, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa